POLITICAL party leaders yesterday made their final campaign pitch to woo voters ahead of today’s Assembly elections.

Polling stations will be open from 7am till 10pm across Wales with counting expected to continue well into the early hours, and final results unlikely until almost dawn.

Welsh Labour leader Rhodri Morgan claimed at a Cardiff Bay news conference that the choice for Welsh voters was a Labour government or a “pig in a poke” coalition.

But he declared that Labour wasn’t “talking about taking our cricket bats home” if it failed to win an overall majority in today’s poll.

Mr Morgan has held on to power with just 29 of the 60 seats in the Assembly but opinion polls predict a slump in support for Labour, heightening the prospect of a political deal between two or more parties to control the new administration.

On the last day of campaigning, Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones previewed the first 100 days of a Plaid Assembly government pledging his first act would be to stop controversial hospital shake-ups and closures.

Conservative Assembly leader Nick Bourne declared that it was time for a change in Welsh politics, adding: “It’s very clear to me, having been in all 40 constituencies, that the only vote that Labour fears is a Conservatives vote.”

The Lib Dem Assembly leader Mike German started the day in Wrexham promising an immediate review of charges for hospital parking and bedside phones – “an unfair tax on sickness” – if he were in power tomorrow.

The Lib Dems would also call for powers over large power stations to be devolved so Wales could say no to nuclear, he said.

Mr Morgan, who previously announced he would stand down as Welsh Labour leader in 2009, told reporters in Cardiff Bay: “The key choice is, if they elect a Labour government , they know what they are going to get. It’s Labour and stable government or a pig in the poke, they can vote for a government or a coalition of unknown character.

“If they vote for change, it puts at risk stable jobs growth, investment in health and education in all parts of Wales because you don’t know what you are going to get.”

Ieuan Wyn Jones, speaking in Llanrhaeadr in the Clwyd West constituency, said his first act would be to stop the proposed hospital shake-ups around Wales, despite Labour accusations of scaremongering by its opponents.

Mr Jones, who claimed that the political momentum could carry Plaid to victory as the biggest party, said: “Our intention is to hit the ground running and make a difference from day one. Our first act in government will be to stop the current hospital reconfiguration programme.

“We will then start drafting legislation to make a difference to people’s lives through helping business, making our communities safer, providing affordable childcare and helping cut emissions to do our bit for the environment.”

The Conservatives’ Assembly leader Nick Bourne told a Cardiff news conference: “I think that people do want a change. People are fed up with Tony Blair, and they are fed up with Rhodri Morgan.”

But Mr Bourne said Plaid had “no clue” how it would pay for its “wish list”.

The Lib Dems were on target to win more votes and increase their existing six seats, their Assembly leader Mike German said

Mr German, who joined with Labour in coalition between 2000-03, predicted: “We are on target to be the biggest net gainers on election night.”